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LONDON : The LaLit London – A Luxurious Indian Hotel in the Heart of London

07/08/2018

When Daniel and I go on vacation, we often tend to choose hotels that are designed in a minimalistic, Nordic style, characterised by clean lines and a color palette of mainly black, white and grey. You know exactly what I’m talking about – the hottest and most exhausted Instagram trend in the past few years. I personally really like this style {and wish I could apply it in my own home, but at the moment, as you know, I am living in a rented apartment in Eilat}. However, on our last trip to London, Daniel and I decided to mix it up and chose to stay at a hotel with a completely different style and atmosphere… an Indian style hotel!

The LaLit London hotel is located in Southwark, on the west bank of the Thames, a short walking distance from the London Bridge underground station, the London Citadel Bridge, and the famous Shard building. The architectural character of the neighbourhood, which is composed of urban lines of high towers built of metal and glass, alongside brick buildings and old stone cathedrals, combines, in a very contrasting manner, the history and modernisation of the city.

Although the LaLiT London opened only last year, it belongs to the traditional type of buildings in the neighbourhood. The LaLiT London is located in an impressive 120-year-old red brick building that was once a grammar school and was restored over a period of five years at a cost of 50 million pounds. Although it has been extensively refurbished, it is clear that much thought and effort has been invested to ensure that the iconic London building remains – in an external way – faithful to its history, and for onlookers it will be hard to guess that this traditional British building now serves a five-star hotel of distinct Indian style.

What may give it away is the beautiful statue of a white elephant adorned with colourful flowers which stands at the front of the hotel beneath the chain’s golden logo. This sculpture symbolises the entire hotel’s design – on the one hand classic and elegant, on the other colourful and bold. In other words, a perfect combination of Indian culture and English heritage.

I loved the fact that in all areas of the hotel, from the lobby, through the restaurant and the bars, to the rooms, beautiful, colourful Indian pieces of art were combined in a relaxed way that does not create a sense of design chaos. Each of the hotel's spaces is decorated in a uniform color scheme. For example, the dominant color in the lobby is yellow. The bedrooms are decorated with an orange color palette and the main dining hall is deep blue.

According to the building's heritage, each of the hotel's areas is named according to the role it played when the building served as a grammar school. The bedrooms, for example, are called “Classrooms” while the main dining room is called the “Great Hall” and the bars are called the “Teacher's Room” and “Headmaster’s Room”. No doubt they thought about everything in this hotel and paid attention to even the smallest details!

The hotel has 70 rooms. Daniel and I stayed in a “Junior Classroom” which was spacious and comfortable with large windows and a street view. The room was equipped with a Nespresso coffee machine and capsules along with a mini bar with a complimentary selection of snacks and non-alcoholic beverages. The most outstanding piece of furniture in the room was, without a doubt, the hypnotizing, embroidered headboard, which sets the tone for the entire room. And speaking of the bed, I can’t help but tell you about the daily gift we received every evening in the form of calming pillow spray mist which made sleeping on the great bed even sweeter.

The bathroom in the room is one of the most well-stocked and well-equipped that I have seen in a while, and it was clear that they did not leave out any detail in this part of the room as well. The bathroom, designed entirely in black and white marble with impressive silver details, features a steam-proof mirror, an electronic toilet {which took me back to our trip to Japan 😊}, an especially pampering shower, and natural toiletries with the most addictive fragrances. Oh! And I almost forgot, the bathroom floor was heated too 😍 A particularly special feature in London’s winter…

That’s it for the design, because one of the most exciting elements of this hotel was – not surprisingly – the food!

Like I said, the hotel has a restaurant and two bars. During our short stay at the hotel {two nights} we enjoyed delightful breakfasts, interesting cocktails, and an unforgettable Indian dinner.

Let’s start with breakfast, which was served at the Baluchi restaurant as buffet, or à la carte, according to the guests’ preference. At the buffet you can enjoy fresh fruit, cheeses, deli, breads and danishes that wouldn’t look bad in confront of a French bakery, while on the menu, you can find a classic English breakfast with sausages, beans, hash brownies and the most perfect poached eggs. Both were delicious, even too delicious… We started our day with too much food! 🐷

Our last evening at the hotel, which was particularly nice out, we chose to spend at the nice restaurant on the balcony, facing the main street. We started with excellent cocktails seasoned with interesting indian touches, and continued to have an amazing Indian dinner by the Chef Santosh Shah.

The restaurant menu is contemporary Indian cuisine and is inspired by different regions in India while all the ingredients are organic. We ordered Samosa, Butter Chicken, Naan bread with garlic, excellent lentil dal, and some more greats dishes. I must also mention the amazing desserts we were served at the end of our meal. Indian cuisine is one of my favorites, but I must admit I never encountered good dessert at an Indian restaurant until this one. Obviously the desserts we were served weren’t classic Indian desserts, but the chef managed to create amazing desserts which included Indian spices which could not be ignored. A real treat for the taste buds! If you’re looking for high-end Indian food, don’t skip lunch or dinner at this great restaurant, even if you’re not an official hotel guest.

Due to the most amazing weather throughout our vacation, we didn’t get a chance to enjoy the bars inside the hotel, but on cold and rainy days it is fun to sit in the hotel bar, which specializes in whiskey, cognac and champagne, and also offers cocktails and mocktails.Two other facilities we did not have time to check out were the hotel's spa, Rejuve, and the fitness center which is open 24 hours a day.

The LaLiT London Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel and we enjoyed every second we stayed at the hotel! This is the first hotel of the Indian hotel group LaLiT Suri to open outside India, and it manages to preserve the British heritage and at the same time symbolize the warmth and richness of Indian culture in an elegant and sophisticated manner. The special design, the exceptional service {and special thanks to the receptionist Naz Kanne, who explained to us in detail the history of the hotel and helped us get oriented in the area}, the amazing food and the special atmosphere create a perfect experience.